IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v150y2023ics019074092300227x.html

Improving healthy connections in under-resourced youth: A YMCA San Diego mental health initiative

Author

Listed:
  • Rubén Chávez, Noé
  • “TK” Halmai-Gillan, Kristina
  • Esquivel, Krysta
  • McCarthy, Megan
  • DeVico, Nicholas
  • Lee, Sophia
  • Ferrer, Mildred
  • Ramos, Amy L.

Abstract

Youth who have faced multiple challenges, including navigating underresourced contexts and systems, need innovative, comprehensive, and culturally responsive mental health services. The services should also leverage the strengths of youth and peers who can be trained as paraprofessionals to work with the professional mental health team in best supporting youth with complex psychosocial challenges. The current study conducted five focus groups to explore qualitatively the experiences of 33 youth with the CAVE approach of the Connections 2020 program of YMCA San Diego; an initiative to improve the relational competencies of transitioning child-welfare involved youth. The CAVE approach is focused on creating therapeutic relationships amongst participating youth, paraprofessional peers, and the professional mental health team, with a focus on compassion, awareness, validation, and empowerment. The focus groups’ highlight the following seven themes experienced by youth: improved emotion regulation; negative life experiences before joining Connections 2020; motivated by desire for stronger relationships and work experience; positive experiences during Connections 2020; finding mentorship and support through relationships with professional and paraprofessional coaches; most helpful skills learned are acceptance, tolerance, and how to manage emotions; and more prepared to handle difficult situations after Connections 2020. The findings underscore the feasibility and acceptability of applying a youth positive development framework to improve relationships and related skills for youth, leveraging their strengths, and integrating paraprofessional youth in improving mental health services.

Suggested Citation

  • Rubén Chávez, Noé & “TK” Halmai-Gillan, Kristina & Esquivel, Krysta & McCarthy, Megan & DeVico, Nicholas & Lee, Sophia & Ferrer, Mildred & Ramos, Amy L., 2023. "Improving healthy connections in under-resourced youth: A YMCA San Diego mental health initiative," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:150:y:2023:i:c:s019074092300227x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.107032
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019074092300227X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.107032?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. William Damon, 2004. "What is Positive Youth Development?," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 591(1), pages 13-24, January.
    2. Md. Saiful Islam & Md. Shariful Islam & Muhammad Humayun Kabir & Mohammad Zamshed Alam & SK. Md. Nur-E-Alam, 2019. "Use of Communication Media by The Bean Farmers," International Journal of Science and Business, IJSAB International, vol. 3(2), pages 126-137.
    3. Bringewatt, Elizabeth H. & Gershoff, Elizabeth T., 2010. "Falling through the cracks: Gaps and barriers in the mental health system for America's disadvantaged children," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(10), pages 1291-1299, October.
    4. Emily H. Ho & David V. Budescu, 2019. "Climate uncertainty communication," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 9(11), pages 802-803, November.
    5. Balcazar, H. & Lee Rosenthal, E. & Nell Brownstein, J. & Rush, C.H. & Matos, S. & Hernandez, L., 2011. "Community health workers can be a public health force for change in the United States: Three actions for a new paradigm," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 101(12), pages 2199-2203.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Leong, Rachel A.T. & Fung, Tze Kwan & Sachidhanandam, Uma & Drillet, Zuzana & Edwards, Peter J. & Richards, Daniel R., 2020. "Use of structural equation modeling to explore influences on perceptions of ecosystem services and disservices attributed to birds in Singapore," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    2. Vanesa Salado & Concepción Moreno-Maldonado & Sara Luna & Francisco Rivera, 2024. "Does Family Material Affluence Affect the Future Socio-political Participation of Adolescents and Their Concerns About Social Issues? An Approach From Structural Equation Modeling and Gender Invariance," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(2), pages 21582440241, May.
    3. Stephan, Sharon H. & Connors, Elizabeth H. & Arora, Prerna & Brey, Laura, 2013. "A learning collaborative approach to training school-based health providers in evidence-based mental health treatment," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 1970-1978.
    4. Mónica Bravo-Sanzana & Ferran Casas & Matías E. Rodríguez-Rivas & Xavier Oriol & Jorge J. Varela & Rafael Miranda & Oscar Terán-Mendoza, 2025. "Instruments for Measuring Hedonic and Eudaimonic Well-Being of Adolescents in the Latin American School Contexts: a Systematic Review," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 18(3), pages 955-1000, June.
    5. Glassgow, Anne Elizabeth & Gerges, Michael & Martin, Molly A. & Estrada, Isela & Issa, Zahra & Lapin, Katerine & Morell, Laura & Solis, Nitza & Van Voorhees, Benjamin & Risser, Heather J., 2018. "Integration of mental health services into an innovative health care delivery model for children with chronic conditions," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 144-151.
    6. Semanchin Jones, Annette & Kim, JaeRan & Hill, Katharine & Diebold, Josal, 2018. "Voluntary placements in child welfare: A comparative analysis of state statutes," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 387-394.
    7. Minnich, Aljoscha & Roggenkamp, Hauke & Lange, Andreas, 2024. "Ambiguity attitudes and surprises: Experimental evidence on communicating new information within a large population sample," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    8. Jain, Sonia & Reno, Rebecca & Cohen, Alison K. & Bassey, Henrissa & Master, Mansi, 2019. "Building a culturally-responsive, family-driven early childhood system of care: Understanding the needs and strengths of ethnically diverse families of children with social-emotional and behavioral concerns," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 31-38.
    9. Lu Yu & Mingyue Gu & Ko Ling Chan, 2023. "Hong Kong Adolescents’ Participation in Political Activities: Correlates of Violent Political Participation," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 18(3), pages 1365-1405, June.
    10. Daniel T. L. Shek & Yi-Ting Tang & Xiang Li, 2025. "Family Functioning and Meaning in Life among Chinese Pre-adolescents and Adolescents: A 4-wave Longitudinal Study," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 18(3), pages 1363-1392, June.
    11. Anderson, Joanna K. & Howarth, Emma & Vainre, Maris & Jones, Peter B. & Humphrey, Ayla, 2017. "A scoping literature review of service-level barriers for access and engagement with mental health services for children and young people," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 164-176.
    12. Nansook Park, 2004. "The Role of Subjective Well-Being in Positive Youth Development," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 591(1), pages 25-39, January.
    13. Minal Pathak & Joyashree Roy & Shaurya Patel & Shreya Some & Purvi Vyas & Nandini Das & Priyadarshi Shukla, 2021. "Communicating climate change findings from IPCC reports: insights from outreach events in India," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 168(3), pages 1-14, October.
    14. Ho, Emily H. & Budescu, David V. & Himmelstein, Mark, 2025. "Measuring probabilistic coherence to identify superior forecasters," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 596-612.
    15. Christopher Peterson, 2004. "Positive Social Science," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 591(1), pages 186-201, January.
    16. Peter Mgawe & Stephen O. Maluka, 2021. "Integration of community health workers into the health system in Tanzania: Examining the process and contextual factors," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3), pages 703-714, May.
    17. Christopher Peterson, 2004. "Preface," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 591(1), pages 6-12, January.
    18. Barbara Jankowiak & Sylwia Jaskulska & Belén Sanz-Barbero & Alba Ayala & Jacek Pyżalski & Nicola Bowes & Karen De Claire & Sofia Neves & Joana Topa & Carmen Rodríguez-Blázquez & María Carmen Davó-Blan, 2020. "The Role of School Social Support and School Social Climate in Dating Violence Victimization Prevention among Adolescents in Europe," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-13, December.
    19. Elena Govorova & Isabel Benítez & José Muñiz, 2020. "Predicting Student Well-Being: Network Analysis Based on PISA 2018," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-18, June.
    20. Miranda, Alejandra & Rodriguez, Michael C., 2023. "Are bullying experiences and developmental assets associated with education outcomes for youth in foster care?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:150:y:2023:i:c:s019074092300227x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.